Google mobile friendly? – make sure your site is compliant

As more and more people are using mobile devices each day, it is essential that your website is Google mobile friendly.

There are so many old and outdated websites out there – designed and developed before mobile became so prominent and used in our everyday lives. When the search giant of the universe, Google, says pay attention – yes sir!

Any web design software worth it’s salt now has mobile friendly design resources and features. Indeed, as a website is being designed and developed, good software will allow you to check for mobile friendliness as development progresses. A great WordPress theme will have this built-in.

Starting in May 2016, Google specifically looks for mobile-friendliness

Mobile-friendliness is now a ranking signal factor in the Google search algorithm. While Google certainly doesn’t spill all the beans when it comes to what makes-up their algorithm, they do help us check whether our websites pass or fail the mobile happy test. If you are not sure whether your site is mobile-friendly or not in the eyes of Google, you can put it through a Mobile-Friendly Test. Simply cut and paste your URL or type it in, and click Analyze. If your site doesn’t pass the test, no need to gather the family and pets and run for your lives – simply call me and we’ll get it sorted out.

How you can check for mobile-friendliness like grandma

Let’s assume you’re old school. Really old. You don’t have a smart phone, just the old flip-top cell – but you do have a website. Here’s what you do; On your good old desk-top computer, start to minimize the screen on your browser. As you shrink it in size you will get a very good idea how it looks on a mobile device. The top menu should disappear into a hamburger menu (three horizontal lines) and so on. By adjusting the browser screen, you can simulate the size of a tablet device and smart phone.

It is also important to note that while some features are automatically loaded and rendered on a desktop these will not behave the same way on a mobile. They are automatically disabled. For example, full-screen video on the Home Page, or bar counters etc. As a website designer, I’m always thinking of these issues.